Talk of deportations stirs worry, uncertainty in Nebraska

President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations is provoking worry in Nebraska’s Latino community and uncertainty in law enforcement.

It was a familiar refrain from Donald Trump on the campaign trail.

“On Day One I will launch the largest deportation program in American history. We will get the criminals out,” Trump said.

Now that Trump has been elected and is scheduled to take office Jan. 20, many people in Nebraska’s Latino and Hispanic communities are worried, said Maria Arriaga, executive director of the state’s Commission on Latino-Americans.

“We obviously hear a lot of concerns, not just from people, for regular people, for people that might be undocumented, but also concerns from organizations, from community leaders, from different entities,” Arriaga said. "They are just worried about the consequences of the implementation of these policies."

About a quarter million Nebraskans, or one in eight of the state’s population of two million, identify as Hispanic, according to an estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau. Most are U.S. citizens, with nearly half born in the country, according to a study from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Estimates of the number of undocumented immigrants in the state – from all countries – are in the range of about 40,000, or similar numbers. But Arriaga said concern about what could happen to them affects many more.

“The Latino families are mixed status families," she explained. "So you can have people they (are) citizens, you have legal permanent residents, you have persons with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status), you have refugees, you have asylum seekers, or you have undocumented people. So it's a mix of everything."

Dylan Severino of ACLU Nebraska said the organization has been planning for the second Trump presidency.

“We've had a first Trump presidency, and we've seen what happened to our community, both a lot of things, but especially like the first and foremost thing that comes to mind is the O'Neill raids,” Severino said.

In 2018, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, raided food processing plants and farms in and around the northern Nebraska community of O’Neill, arresting 133 people for immigration law violations, and separating children from their parents.

If more raids are carried out, one question is who will conduct them. Trump has talked about using the military and National Guard troops, but also about using local law enforcement agencies. The federal government has no direct control over them, but could try to influence policy by granting or withholding funds.

At a recent town hall, one woman asked Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert if the city plans to get involved in deportations. Television station KETV reported Stothert’s answer.

“The Omaha Police Department, the Omaha police officers, they do not and they will not seek out individuals to check for legal status. It is not the mission or the duty of the Omaha police department to determine whether an individual is illegal or not,” Stothert said.

But in an interview with KETV, Deputy Police Chief Scott Gray suggested things could change.

“We don't know what policies might be going forward, if there's new laws, whatever the case might be, so we're just kind of ‘wait and see,’” Gray said.

An existing federal program, known as 287(g), lets local law enforcement agencies volunteer to help enforce immigration laws. In Nebraska, the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office is the only law enforcement agency participating. Dakota County Sheriff Chris Kleinberg said that lets him notify ICE if someone in the county jail is also wanted in other jurisdictions.

Kleinberg said people in the country illegally who commit crimes cost lots of money in jail and court proceedings. But he doesn’t want to go looking for undocumented individuals who aren’t committing crimes in the community.

“We don't have the manpower to do that," he said. "I don't want my deputies knocking on doors and looking for illegals. That's up to ICE. That's not up to us… My job is to protect the people and property of this county, and human beings are human beings in my book. I don't really care – citizens or not citizens, don't harm the people or the property of my county, and we'll never see you."

Meanwhile, the ACLU’s Severino said advocates are preparing for whatever comes next, wherever it happens.

“It happened in O'Neill last time, a city of about 3,000 people, not really particularly close to Omaha, Lincoln or Grand Island or Scottsbluff, last time. It could happen anywhere next time. So we have to be prepared,” he said.

Those preparations include arranging safe community centers for people to gather, lining up volunteers and donations, and working on guides to let people know their rights.

Juan Carlos Garcia of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, says they want to work with authorities to ensure people are respected.

“We'll work with anyone, but at the same time with human dignity first, and treating people with humanity and dignity," Garcia said. "We don't want a system where everyone is afraid. That is not the American dream, and it's not good for anyone."